Friday Afternoon News, January 18

Living Healthy Wellness Challenge Falling Short of Registration Goal

(Le Mars) -- Living Healthy is the goal...and the ten-week wellness challenge is the means to achieve the goal. You may recall, a local effort to get Plymouth County residents living healthy is under way. Kari Daale with Floyd Valley Hospital says the goal is to have nearly 2300 county residents participate, although so far, registrations have been slow to come in.

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The ten-week Living Healthy Iowa Challenge begins on January 28th. Daale says there are many reasons why a person should consider participating in the wellness program.

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Daale encourages people to get involved with the ten-week wellness challenge and to encourage a friend to participate with you.

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Registration is just $20, but with a coupon from Hy-Vee, the cost is $15. For that, participants will receive a t-shirt, information about eating right and simple exercises, along with a year's subscription to one of six popular magazines. Daale reminds people when they register to use the Plymouth County code which is LHIPLYCO. For more information about the Living Healthy Wellness Challenge you can visit the Le Mars YMCA, Plymouth County Extension, or the Floyd Valley Hospital, or go online at www.livinghealthyiowa.org.

Judy Zeka Selected As School District Employee of the Month

(Le Mars) -- Earlier this week, the Le Mars Community School District honored Judy Zeka as the January employee of the month. Zeka has been a teacher of English and Language Arts at Le Mars Community for more than 11 years. According to the nomination as submitted by Doug Martin and Mark Zeka, Judy successfully accommodates the needs of the various learners, modifying and differentiating as needed. She is very successful at differentiating her lessons so that all levels of students are successful in her class. She helped organize and lead the Support Siouxland Soldiers food drive at Le Mars Community, in which $800 was raised along with collection of thousands of items that were donated to both deployed military and veterans to help improve their deployment time, and way of life after their service is completed. Our congratulations to Judy Zeka for being named the Le Mars Community School District's employee of the month.

Branstad Doesn't Expect Changes To State Gun Laws

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Gov. Terry Branstad says he doesn't expect to see any significant changes to Iowa's gun laws. Speaking Friday during a taping of the public television program, "Iowa Press," Branstad stressed his support of the second amendment. He says violence in schools would be addressedthrough anti-bullying programs and his effort to reform the state's mental health system. President Barack Obama this week proposed a major overhaul of the nation's gun laws, including renewing a ban on assault weapons, limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines and requiringbackground checks for all gun buyers. His proposal came after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Ice May Have Played A Role In Medical Helicopter's Crash

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) - A preliminary federal report suggests that icy conditions will be among the factors checked by investigators trying to determine what caused the fatal crash of amedical helicopter in northern Iowa. The report released Wednesday didn't include any conclusion about the crash cause. The pilot and two others on board died the night of Jan. 2. The helicopter had been headed to Emmetsburg, about 80 miles west of Mason City, to pick up a patient when it slammed into the ground just north of Ventura about 9 p.m. The report says severalwitnesses mentioned icy conditions at the time. The three victims were identified as nurse Shelly Lair-Langenbau, paramedic Russell Piehl and pilot Gene Grell. ---

Iowa's Unemployment Remains Unchanged

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa's preliminary unemployment rate was unchanged in December, matching the 4.9 percent recorded in November. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that the figure was seven-tenths of a point under the year-ago figure of 5.6 percent. Iowa's rate is significantly lower than the national figure of 7.8 percent in December. Workforce Development says there were 80,000 unemployed Iowans in December, compared with a revised figure of 80,200 for November. The figure was 93,400 in December 2011.